Chapter 82: Subduing Evil Once More

What conditions?

Chen Jianghe said solemnly, “As long as you can truly cure my wife, we will agree to whatever conditions you set.”

Zeng Xiaofan smiled faintly and pointed at Chen Lini.

“If I can cure the county magistrate’s wife, then let her be my personal maid for half a year. On call at any time.”

The words caused a huge uproar.

Chen Lini was so furious she nearly fainted.

“You... you’re spouting nonsense!”

“Who would ever be your personal maid!”

“You pervert!”

“You lecher!”

Zeng Xiaofan gave a slight shrug and said indifferently, “Then I am afraid I can do nothing to help.”

“You...” Chen Jianghe’s expression also changed, his face grave.

Just as Zeng Xiaofan was about to leave, Chen Lini finally bit her lip and said, “I agree!”

“As long as you can save my mother, I’ll be your personal maid for eight years!”

“But if you fail to cure my mother, I’ll have someone break your legs and make you a cripple for life!”

At this, Zeng Xiaofan smiled lightly.

“Agreed.”

As he spoke, he even offered his hand, intending to high-five Chen Lini, but she merely rolled her eyes and turned straight into the house.

“What are you standing there for? Hurry up and save my mother!”

“Mother!”

The moment Chen Lini rushed inside, she saw her mother lying rigidly on the sofa, already dead.

She burst into tears at once.

“Mother!”

“Why... why didn’t you wait for your daughter...”

“If you die, what am I supposed to do...”

In her overwhelming grief, she could think of nothing else but clutching her mother’s body and crying until she could scarcely breathe.

Chen Jianghe, too, trembling all over, reached out to confirm that Wang Yanfang had truly stopped breathing. The instant he was certain, it was as though all strength had been drained from his body, and he collapsed onto the floor.

“It’s too late... everything’s too late...”

“She’s gone... she’s really gone...”

Just as father and daughter were broken with grief, Zeng Xiaofan stepped forward and said gravely, “She can still be saved. Leave her to me.”

Still drowning in sorrow, Chen Lini was even more enraged at the sight of him.

“We asked you to help before and you refused. Now that she’s gone, now that her breath is gone, what are you pretending for?”

“Get out! Get out of here!”

Chen Jianghe’s face was also dark as he said, “My wife has already passed. Don’t torment her any further...”

But Zeng Xiaofan seemed not to hear him at all. He simply took out his large silver needle and thrust it into the acupoints of County Magistrate’s Wife, Wang Yanfang.

The needle sank in to the hilt, disappearing almost entirely. Wang Yanfang’s body gave a slight convulsion, as though instinctively responding to the needle.

Zeng Xiaofan immediately formed a sword mudra with two fingers and rapidly tapped along points on Wang Yanfang’s chest and body, then took out the silver needles again and began to pierce them in rapid succession while murmuring under his breath:

“The Thirteen Heavens Dipper Needles, each one settles the soul!”

“One needle turns the stars, and a sea of blossoms blooms!”

As his silver needles moved in and out of Wang Yanfang’s body, a few drops of blood slowly trickled from beneath her nose.

The woman who had been dark-faced and breathless a moment ago suddenly opened her mouth wide and drew in a deep breath.

“Cough, cough, cough... ah...”

Then Wang Yanfang let out a soft moan.

The room was once again thrown into uproar.

Chen Lini was so shocked her mouth would not close, her bright, limpid eyes blazing with heat.

“Mother! You... you really came back to life!”

“This is wonderful! Mother! Sob...”

“I thought I’d never see you again... sob...”

Chen Lini cried as she rushed to embrace Wang Yanfang, and Chen Jianghe could not hold back his own tears as he moved forward to embrace her as well.

Yet Zeng Xiaofan gave a sharp cry.

“Everyone back away!”

“She’s only been kept alive for now. The true source of the illness has not yet been removed!”

At that, neither Chen Jianghe nor Chen Lini dared move a muscle. By now, they treated Zeng Xiaofan’s every word as if it were imperial decree.

Zeng Xiaofan again formed a sword mudra with two fingers, bit his fingertip lightly, and drew talismanic script in the air over the silver needle.

“The Dipper shines over the North Star, and the earthly fiends are bound in the netherworld! The five elements become true fire, burning away all bodily shell and bone! Metal severs the soul, wood binds the essence, water drowns the spirit, earth buries the form, fire refines the truth—by decree of the Three Pure Ones, let ten thousand ghosts shatter and return to emptiness! Swiftly, as the law commands!”

The instant the words fell, a phantom talismanic image flashed above the silver needle and vanished in an instant.

Zeng Xiaofan immediately picked up the silver needle again and drove it into Wang Yanfang’s body, this time tracing along her meridians from top to bottom.

He continued until he reached the area near her private parts.

As the needle drew closer, Wang Yanfang’s face grew increasingly flushed.

“Ah...”

“No...”

“Mm... so comfortable...”

“Don’t come out... don’t...”

“Ah!”

With Wang Yanfang’s cry, a black shadow suddenly wriggled out from beneath her.

At once a bitter,阴 cold wind swept through the room, and a foul stench made everyone dizzy.

Chen Lini, whose courage was not especially strong, felt fear rise from the depths of her marrow itself and cried out on the spot.

Even Chen Jianghe felt his chest grow tight, his breathing becoming difficult, as though some incomparably terrifying thing were staring fixedly at him.

Zeng Xiaofan only curled the corner of his mouth and let out a long breath.

“Good... so it came out.”

“You vile thing! Where do you think you’re running!”

With a furious roar, Zeng Xiaofan slapped the air with his palm. Golden waves of force surged forward, and the black shadow let out a piercing scream.

The cry echoed to the heavens.

Realizing it was no match for Zeng Xiaofan, the shadow darted wildly about in the air, several times trying to slip back beneath Wang Yanfang.

But each time at the critical moment, Zeng Xiaofan’s hand gently pressed upon Wang Yanfang, blocking its path.

The black shadow howled a few times, then suddenly shot into the tall cabinet beside the television.

Zeng Xiaofan gave a cold snort.

“Wretch. Your road ends here.”

As the words fell, he sprang into the air and yanked open the drawer. A jade rod that looked ancient, heavy with age, shot straight toward his face.

Zeng Xiaofan’s pupils contracted slightly, and he caught the jade rod barehanded. With a thought, stars burst brilliantly in his palm.

At once another shriek rose from inside the jade rod, clearly the evil shadow had been trapped within it.

Zeng Xiaofan held his breath and focused, pressing his other hand down as well. The moment a star pattern appeared in his palm, the jade rod trembled violently. Then a plume of green smoke rose from it, and the smell of something scorched spread throughout the room.

At the same time, the piercing cries and the roomful of bitter cold vanished without a trace, as though they had never existed at all.

Chen Jianghe, Chen Lini, and the others all felt a wave of dazed unreality, as if everything had just been a nightmare.

Only Zeng Xiaofan, holding the jade rod in one hand, stood upright and steady, full of righteous bearing, magnificent as though a deity had descended to earth.